Pillsbury Doughboy’s creator dies at 89

  • Chicago Tribune
  • Thursday, April 2, 2015 4:01pm
  • Business

CHICAGO – Rudolph Perz, a Chicago ad man most famous for creating the Pillsbury Doughboy, has died. He was 89.

Perz developed the iconic spokesboy in his early years at Chicago advertising agency Leo Burnett.

The Pillsbury Doughboy, otherwise known as Poppin’ Fresh, was created in 1965 and is still used in commercials. A 1977 Chicago Tribune article called it “a cute little anthropomorphic embodiment of fresh dough.”

Perz said at the time that early incarnations of the doughboy, originally animated, too closely resembled Casper the Ghost, which led to the development of the three-dimensional character. The doughboy was filmed using stop-motion.

Visitation will take place this weekend.

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